Wednesday, July 14, 2010

30 Days of DC Meme. Day 8: Favorite Film

I'm cross-posting this directly from Tumblr, because I have no idea how the comments work over there, and was hoping to foster some discussion.

Okay. Hear me out on this. I've written a little bit about this in various places, but let me try to filter everything into a bulletted list of why I like this movie. I completely understand some of the criticisms (and welcome discussion), but to me this is my absolutely favorite comic adaptation. That should be considered something separate than a comic movie, really, since the Superman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc. movies may be based off a bunch of things (focusing on origins usually) but aren't direct adaptations of a singular story. Still, they're all comic movies and they should all be considered.

First, please watch the gorgeous opening sequence. This is about 40 pages worth of comic (and prose) back story set to the perfect song and turned into a poignant, nostalgic, perfect look back at this past that is not-quite our past. They should have won an Oscar for Best Short Film for this. I could watch over and over.

Second, I know it wasn't completely faithful to the storyline. No giant squid (oh dear, I've spoiled you). But I felt that what they did do worked perfectly as a 21st century adaptation of the story. We're facing an energy crisis in a completely different way than they were when the story was written. Not giving us immediate access to the electric cars of the original story, having it be something tangible that comes out of Adrian's mass destruction (which was no longer limited only to NYC, thankfully), made the sacrifice of the people, and of Doctor Manhattan, much more poignant. We, as a nation, made it through 9/11. England made it through 7/7. Madrid... there are places where bombings and terrorism bring people together for a bit. And then we're divided again. I think Adrian's plan was a perfect way, in this new age of terrorism that is nothing at all like they were dealing with 25 years ago, to get his goal accomplished.

Casting. Damn fine casting. My only dislike was Adrian, and that was minor.

Get over the blue penis, people. Seriously.

They obviously put so much care into set design, costume, etc. that it really felt like the comic had come to life. Even if there were cuts from the story and things changed, I felt like I was watching one of my all time favorite comic books come alive in front of me.

This movie was made with love by a fan for fans. And as a fan, I appreciated that. And loved it.

I enjoyed the film in many ways, especially the opening sequence and the (to my mind) amazingly dead-on casting. I also had no real objections either to the ways in which the film was super-faithful to the comics, or to the superficial ways in which it deviated (I agree with Sam for instance that the global terrorist act in the end really made more sense than a giant squid attacking just NYC).

Overall I was really impressed (and surprised) by how well Snyder adapted the graphic novel.

However I absolutely recoiled from the film's celebration of violence, which seemed completely at odds with what Moore was doing. This bugged me both on an ideological level, but also on a practical/literal level -- when Nite Owl and Silk Spectre have that fight/massacre in the alley, for instance, they seem to actually possess super powers to do what they do. This hardly seems like the work of two relatively out-of-shape normal people who have not been playing superhero for a decade.

I enjoyed the film in many ways, especially the opening sequence and the (to my mind) amazingly dead-on casting. I also had no real objections either to the ways in which the film was super-faithful to the comics, or to the superficial ways in which it deviated (I agree with Sam for instance that the global terrorist act in the end really made more sense than a giant squid attacking just NYC).

Overall I was really impressed (and surprised) by how well Snyder adapted the graphic novel.

However I absolutely recoiled from the film's celebration of violence, which seemed completely at odds with what Moore was doing. This bugged me both on an ideological level, but also on a practical/literal level -- when Nite Owl and Silk Spectre have that fight/massacre in the alley, for instance, they seem to actually possess super powers to do what they do. This hardly seems like the work of two relatively out-of-shape normal people who have not been playing superhero for a decade.

the blog

This blog started as a place to write about my rediscovered love of comic books. Since then, I've decided to expand it to a [hopefully critical, hopefully funny, hopefully engaging] discussion of all the things in the world I like. Gaming, comics, movies and television top that list, but there are many others and most of them fall into the category of "geeky" or "gay" (literally, not derogatorily). I write things here that won't fit into 140 characters on Twitter, or need more than a picture and caption on Tumblr.